Google lost its appeal of a judge’s court order requiring the tech giant to revamp its app store in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google’s argument that the trial judge made legal errors in the antitrust case that unfairly favored Epic Games.
Epic Games first filed its lawsuit in 2020 and was able to convince a jury in 2023 that Google illegally stifled competition. The trial judge ordered Google last October to open its app store to rivals and give Android users more choice when it comes to downloading apps. The order was on hold pending the outcome of Google’s appeal.
Google argued to the appeals court that its Play Store competes with Apple’s App Store, and claimed that the trial judge unfairly prevented it from presenting that argument in defense against Epic’s antitrust claims.